


The First of Many

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: California Dreaming [11]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Drama, F/M, Family, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-09
Updated: 2013-08-09
Packaged: 2017-12-22 21:05:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/918009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I think we can make each other happy…I think we do make each other happy.  And that’s me saying it.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First of Many

Fuck nerves. If she’d let nerves stop her from doing things she might still be a ten year old kid standing on the shore line with a boogie board and a dream. She was an almost forty year old woman, and with one more look in the mirror, Paloma Watson turned off the light and walked into the bedroom. He was already in bed. A pair of black-rimmed glasses rested on the bridge of his nose as he looked at a Kindle. He looked up and smiled at her.

“Did you have everything you need?” Jason asked.

“Yeah.” She nodded. “What are you reading?”

“I'm just looking at the _Chicago Tribune_ headlines. I was so busy this morning that I didn’t even read the paper.”

“It was a busy day.”

Paloma sat down on the bed beside Jason. She wasn’t quite ready to get in yet but she wanted to. She put her hand on his thigh; he put his on top of hers. It had been a long, wonderful day. As birthday parties go it had been one of Paloma’s favorite. The girls had such a good time with their friends. Paloma had a great time too. She chatted it up with the few adults there. She danced with the girls and even convinced Jason to dance across the grass with her.

“I think everyone was quite delighted with my wife today.” He said. “They said everything but ‘how did you get that wonderful woman to marry you”.”

“Oh you didn’t hear that one? I guess they only said that to me.” Paloma laughed. “I'm just kidding. I hope the entire thing wasn’t too embarrassing for you.”

“It wasn’t.” Jason shook his head. “I'm just glad all the kids had a good time. I wanted the girls to be happy and I think they were happy.”

“They were beyond happy, and the feelings were infectious. You would have thought it was my birthday. I couldn’t help being excited.”

“You were beaming all day. My colleague Stephen couldn’t stop mentioning how the twins were just as lovely as their mother.”

“Mimi’s mom asked me how she and her husband wanted to get information about fostering. All of their kids except for Mimi are adults and she said the family had more love to give and plenty of room. Oh, and we've been invited to a faculty barbecue at Dr. Marshall’s house in two weeks.”

“I heard about that. I said I would check our schedule.”

“I said yes.” Paloma said.

Jason couldn’t help but smile. He’d been smiling since he woke up that morning. While the day was busy, it was happy. The twins were bouncy and full of excitement. The party went off without a hitch; all the guests had fun. Jason felt more social than usual, chatting with everyone in attendance. Paloma was beside him most of the day except when she was running around with the girls. He was in awe of her but surely wasn’t the only one.

“I know what that means.” Jason smiled as he caressed her face. “That means we’re going.”

“I'm sure we can come up with a nice excuse if it’s really not your thing.”

“It might be fun. The kids always tell me that I should get out more. I should have more fun.”

“You had fun today.” She said. “I could tell. I don’t want to brag but I'm getting better with all of your body and facial cues.”

Jason nodded, leaning forward to kiss her. Paloma smiled against his lips and moved in closer. He slipped his arms around her neck; she scooted closer on the bed. When Jason ran his hand up the nape of her neck, Paloma moaned.

“Oh my God, why didn’t I already know this?” Tameka came bursting into the bedroom.

“Meka,” Jason pulled away from the kiss. “What have we said about knocking on closed doors?”

“But I did knock. I mean, I knocked and came in at the same time so…OK, my bad. But this is huge, Gideon. It’s epically huge.”

“What is it?” he asked.

“How come I didn’t know that Reba covered _If I Were a Boy_?”

“I'm sorry?”

“You hadn’t heard that song?” Paloma asked.

“No. I was just lying in bed, almost sleep you know, and it came on the radio. Tashima likes to listen to the kinda cheesy soft rock station so she can sleep at night and not wanna dance. So it came on and I was like ‘aww yeah Beyoncé’ but it wasn’t Beyoncé. I sat up so I could hear it better. It’s epic. It’s really epic. Why did I not know about this?”

“I love that song.” Paloma replied. “I have the CD in my car. We can listen to it tomorrow.”

“Really? Yes,” Tameka nodded. “We need to do that.”

“OK.” Jason nodded. “I'm glad we have that all worked out.”

“Me too. I’m sorry I interrupted the kissing and stuff. Go Gideon.” The teenager gave him the thumbs up and a huge grin.

“Goodnight, Meka. Love you.”

“I love you too. Goodnight, Paloma.”

“Goodnight kiddo.”

She walked out, closing the door behind her. Jason looked at Paloma with a strange look on his face.

“What just happened?” he asked. “There were words but the rest is a blur. Help me out.”

“Have you heard of Reba McEntire?” Paloma asked.

“Yes.” 

“And you’ve heard of Beyoncé?”

“I have.” Jason nodded.

“Beyoncé has a song called _If I Were a Boy_. It came out in 2008 on her Sasha Fierce album. Reba covered it on her most recent album. Apparently Tameka just heard Reba’s version and she’s excited.”

“Aha. Her excitement was the one thing I definitely understand. I think she used the words epically huge.”

“That was it. Now, where were we Jason Gideon?”

“Here?” he kissed her nose. “No, no, I think we were a little closer to here.” He kissed her mouth.

“Mmm,”

Paloma took the Kindle from his lap and placed it gently on the nightstand. Then she pulled the sheet down and climbed into bed with him. Jason was a bit surprised that she climbed in on his side. He smiled when she straddled him. He wrapped his arms around her back as she nibbled on his earlobe. Paloma felt his body react to what she was doing. She always loved the way Jason’s body reacted.

“Can I say something before we, you know, get intimate?” he asked. “Not that we have to get intimate. It’s perfectly alright not to get intimate but it’s alright to jump right in if you want to. I just want to say something first.”

“Yeah.” She nodded and stopped nibbling on his ear. Paloma looked at him. She smiled when Jason pushed her hair behind her ears.

“We’ve said some things before so you may have heard it before. It’s on my mind; I need to say it again. I've known you now for over three years. I've always found you to be smart, kind, and a breath of fresh air. 

“It wasn’t difficult to like you from the moment we met and I've always found things like that difficult. Anyway, as we've gotten closer over these past few months I really like who I am when we’re together. Paloma, you're beautiful and wonderful and I'm really, really fond of you.” Jason sighed. “Yes, I'm awfully fond of you.”

“I feel the same way.”

“I’d love to hear you say it.” He said.

“Alright…I love you too.”

“Paloma…”

“Uh uh.” She placed her finger gently on his lips. Jason kissed it. “You said you wanted to hear me say it so I said it. A few weeks ago you told me how you felt, how I made you feel. Now it’s my turn. When we first met I thought you were attractive. You're a profiler so I don’t know if I was good or bad at hiding it.”

“I had no idea.” He shook his head. “But when it comes to women, the sexes, profilers are clueless. So many people are clueless.”

“The more I got to know you over the years, the more attracted I became. I fought it more times than I want to admit to. The reason I stopped placing children with you, handing cases over to trusted colleagues, is because I had feelings for you. I wanted to act on them but knew it was a conflict of interest. I picked up and hung up the phone for six months. Finally when my friend Kyle had his art show, I knew that was the perfect excuse. I thought if I just asked you to dinner or coffee that you might turn me down.”

“The thought never crossed my mind.” Jason said.

“The thought of saying no?” Paloma asked.

“Yes.”

“The truth is the moment I saw you walking down the street toward the gallery I was a goner. I love you, Jason, and I love having you in my life. I love your kids. I love your houseful of pets. I think we can make each other happy…I think we do make each other happy. And that’s me saying it.”

Jason pulled her into a hug. Paloma sighed as he held her close. She put a lot on the line being honest with her feelings. He’d never known her to be anything but honest. Talking about love or even awful fondness was never easy. 

Opening yourself to vulnerability, or a broken heart flew in the face of a human’s need for self-protection. Falling in love was a total contradiction; craved and fought in the same breath. Jason closed himself off a long time ago to romantic love. After Sarah died he didn’t even want to think about trying. Love was pain. 

It was physical, mental, and sometimes unbearable pain. With the kids it was easier. At his core, Jason Gideon was a teacher. It was something he’d always been good at. 

So many kids responded to that. He never thought he’d have the chance again with matters of the heart. There was a part of him that mourned that loss. Tonight in bed with Paloma, there was nothing to be sad about.

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to respond in kind.” She whispered in his ear. “I never want you to be anything but what you are. Just because it wasn’t easy for me to say doesn’t mean it wasn’t comfortable and right.”

“I bought you a gift.” Jason replied. “I just wanted to get you something for being you. And for all the help you gave me in planning the girls’ party.”

“I'm not adverse to gifts.”

Jason went into his nightstand drawer and pulled out the gift-wrapped rectangle. Paloma had no idea what it was. She shook it and laughed. That made Jason laugh too.

“I hope you didn’t do too much.” She said.

“I probably didn’t do enough. But I'm consoled by the fact that you're going to love it.”

Paloma ripped the paper off just as Tashima and Tameka had their gifts earlier that afternoon. Jason took the paper, putting it in the trash. Then she squee’d. She covered her mouth because she didn’t want to wake the kids. 

Paloma squee’d again behind her hand. She was bouncing up and down on his lap. Jason cleared his throat and willed his body to calm down. She was a different kind of excited than he was about to get.

“I love it!” she threw her arms around him. “Oh Jason, I love it.”

“I'm so glad. I ordered it when I got Tashima’s Queen boxed set. I had to do something…this party wouldn’t have happened without all of your help.”

He’d bought her a copy of the 25th anniversary of Paul Simon’s _Graceland_. It was one of her favorite albums; Paloma was a big Paul Simon fan. The only thing that probably would’ve been more exciting for the full Beach Boys discography. Sometimes she was such a California girl it was crazy.

“I'm going to play this far too much over the next couple of weeks. Wow, I don’t think I've had a new CD in years. It’s practically a little piece of nostalgia. Thank you.” She kissed him.

“We should probably get some sleep. It’s getting late and I promised the kids homemade waffles in the morning. They don’t get up really, really early on Sundays but the dogs and cats do.”

“So just sleep?” Paloma asked raising her eyebrow.

“Just sleep.” He nodded. “I really do want to hold you tonight. Tomorrow morning I’ll surely be eager to explore many different scenarios.”

“You're on.”

Laughing, Paloma moved onto her side of the bed. She smiled as she put the CD on the nightstand. When Jason turned off the lamp she lay on her side. He spooned behind her and she rubbed his arm. This would be their first night together; Paloma was afraid of getting used to it. They'd napped together, afternoons at her place just trying to get a little private time. This was another step altogether.

“Are you comfortable?” Jason asked.

“Mmm hmm,” she cuddled closer.

“I bought you another gift. I'm going to give it to you in the morning.”

“Are you trying to spoil me, Jason Gideon?” she glanced back at him. 

“I think I am. I think I like this part.”

“This is also the part where I don’t complain in the least.”

“Goodnight, Paloma.”

“’Night.”

***


End file.
